Desertion
by irismoon
Summary: When one of the team leaves, how will the others react? (ENox) New Chapter 6
1. Flight

Title: Desertion 

Author: Iris Moon

Rating PG-13

Summary: When one of their own leaves, what will become of them?

Emma awoke from her dream in a cold sweat, her sheets were wet. She tried to remember her dream but could not, the details were getting fuzzy and no matter how hard she tried the details would not come back to her. All she knew was that her room reeked of fear and hatred, echoes from the now forgotten dream.

She got out of her bed, opened the door and went down the long narrow hallway to the kitchen of Sanctuary. The room was dark, as was the adjoining living room, and the tiled back splash seemed to glow as white as bone. Emma flicked the switch on the wall and the lights came on, reaching into the refrigerator she withdrew a small container of orange juice.

Emma focused her mind and her thoughts reaching out to see how her fellow teammates were, there was nothing but silence in her mind. Thinking this was quite odd she made her way to Shalimar's room, opening the door quietly she peered inside.

"Shalimar? Are you in here?" She called.

Shalimar's bed was empty.

'What is going on?' Emma thought to herself as she looked in Jesse, Brennan and Adams rooms. None of them was there and none of their beds has been slept in.

Going back to the living room she noticed a light flashing on one of the computers. Pressing it a message appeared;

__

Hey Em! We figured you weren't on for partying so we didn't disturb you. We're not sure when we'll get back so don't wait up.

G'night!

Shal

Sighing that her team had forgotten to include her again in their plans Emma headed back to bed when she was hit with a psychic flash;

Shalimar and Brennan were talking in the kitchen the clock above there heads beeped 12 am.

"Do you want to wake Emma up?" Asked Brennan.

"Naw, she hasn't been much fun lately anyway, I don't know what her deal is but I think we should just leave her alone tonight. Besides we can have fun without her, let her rest up." Shalimar replied.

A bright flash and Emma mind skipped ahead to Jesse and Adam,

"Where's Emma?" Adam inquired.

"Not coming, Shal told me she was sick." Jesse said, looking up to see Brennan standing in the door way.

"Ready to go?"

"Yep" They left with a squeal of tires.

Emma opened her eyes with a small scream, the vision had been very intense and she knew in that instance that it was true.

'Well they think I can't have fun, eh? That I need to be looked out for, worried for. God they don't have any idea what I deal with everyday, and they think they have the right to judge me?' Emma paced the hallways deciding what to do.

'They've been doing stuff like this for weeks, almost two months! Ragging on how I'm the baby and need to be taken care of, they think that they can do so much stuff without me, meanwhile they don't even ask why I'm in a funk or what's been going on in my life! Well why don't I just test that theory, and make them think about me instead of about only themselves?' 

As she was thinking this Emma made up her mind, she was going to leave and give them a taste of their own medicine.

Crying softly Emma packed a duffel bag and a backpack, putting in cash, clothes and the other items she would need on a trip. Looking at the clock she saw that it read 3am, the others wouldn't be back for hours, with that thought she left a short note and got into one of the black Audis. 

Not knowing exactly where she was going to go she drove to the bus depot and parked. Looking at the signs she saw Seattle - 3:30 am, New York – 3:40, Tampa – 3:50. 

Looking at her watch Emma saw that it was 3: 35 am and checking the schedule again she purchased a ticket for New York.

Sitting in her seat hoping that what she had done was the right choice she stared into the window beside her, watching as more tears silently fell and the bus moved along the highway towards, what was for Emma, the unknown.

If only they had believed in her

To be Continued…


	2. Findings

The Job Search

Emma sat on the pink and orange comforter of her newly rented hotel room thinking to herself; she only had 2300 dollars left and that wouldn't last for very long in New York City, plus she needed to change her identity and get a job. Emma realised she had to do all of this without getting noticed by the New York New Mutant Underground. It was going to be harder then she thought.

Reaching into her bag she pulled out some forged documents she had made at Sanctuary just four days ago, Emma had been planning on giving them to a New Mutant who needed to change her name and her identity, but that had fallen through.

'I was lucky I kept them,' She thought 'now instead of being Emma Delauro I can be…Marie Hunting'. The papers also include a driver's licence, social insurance card, health insurance and a variety of other accouterments that one needed when changing who they were.

Pulling out a photograph of herself with the rest of the gang that had been taken when they went out to the Fall Fair some months back Emma carefully cut out her head and put it into the licence. It was a perfect fit.

Mutant X had no knowledge of these identity papers so Emma figured that they would not be able to track her using them.

With the question of changing her name done she turned to a slightly more pressing need. Emma needed a job, but she had no real skills. Sure she had worked at clothing store but what experience does that give you other then, 'yes I can sell pants'.

Lying down on the bed Emma turned on the small television, flipping through the channels she saw nothing but action movies, docu-dramas and Law and Order reruns.

Growling softly at her lack of luck she glanced at the floor and spying the New York Times at her feet she got a brilliant idea;

'I'll just look in the want-ads. I'm bound to find some kind of job in there.'

Piecing through the paper and throwing all the sections but the want ads to the floor Emma grabbed a pen out of the bedside table and began to circle jobs that she was qualified for.

Half an hour later she was done, and when she looked she had about 5 potential jobs circled. Looking closer she realised that they all involved her selling some thing. Her frustration mounting Emma discovered she had overlooked a crucial piece of her new identity. The New Mutant she had the papers of had a degree in psychology. 

With a start she gasped and smacked herself on the forehead. 

"My god am I stupid or what?" Emma asked her self aloud. 'With my telempathy I can easily be a psychologist, or at least an assistant to one.' 

With the job search for retail positions temporarily suspended Emma looked again at the classifieds for anyone looking to hire a psychologist.

45 minutes later she had it narrowed down; The Lakesview Centre for the Disabled was hiring a full time psychologist and/or a qualified assistant to one. Jotting down the address Emma made the decision that tomorrow morning she would go over to the centre and apply for the job, hoping furiously to get it.

Meanwhile back at Sanctuary it was just about 7 o'clock in the morning and the others were returning from a hard night of partying.

Shalimar breezed in looking happy and revitalized where as the guys were not looking so good. Jesse and Brennan were helping each other up the stairs to their quarters and Adam had already passed out in the lab.

Singing an off key sing Shalimar walked lazily around the kitchen and saw a piece of paper resting conspicuously on the kitchen table. It had her, Jesse, Brennan and Adam's names on it.

Opening it Shalimar read the first couple of lines and stopped not wanting to believe what it said.

"Guys! Guys! Get to the kitchen right now…something horrible has happened!" Shalimar shouted into her com-link. She paced frantically and the male contingent of the Mutant X team came thundering into the room.

"Shal, what's wrong? You sounded really upset." Jesse said running up to where Shalimar was perched on a stool. She blindly handed him the letter in her hand, mutely shaking her head a few tears escaping her eyes and trailing down her alabaster cheeks. Jesse read it with trepidation, Adam and Brennan watched as Shalimar tried to hold it together until Jesse finished reading, it seemed like a life time but he completed it and with his hand shaking said;

"Emma is gone."

"Gone? What do you mean she's gone?" Brennan asked hysteria entering his voice.

"Here read it yourself." Jesse sat down next to Shalimar and attempted to comfort her. Brennan began to read the letter aloud;

"I don't expect you guys to understand completely why I left.

I just want you to know that I feel like I'm not a part of the team anymore, and that I need to spend some time without Mutant X to try and figure some stuff out.

I'm tired of being ostracized and I don't really think any of you will really care that much that I'm gone.   

Please don't try and find me or contact me and respect my wishes towards those two things.   I don't know when or if I'll be coming back, but don't worry about me I can take care of myself. I might write if I get the chance, but don't count on it I don't know exactly where I'm going.

-Emma Delauro" Brennan finished reading the letter and collapsed on the floor.

"She thinks we don't care? That's crazy!" Jesse said,

"Is it really?" Adam replied, "It's not as if we have been spending much time with her lately. I know she's been having issues with her powers, but I didn't think it was anything to worry about."

"Obviously it was, god if we'd even bothered to ask her how she felt she probably wouldn't have left!" Shalimar growled at the group.

"Its no use accusing each other….we have to find her!" Brennan said getting off the floor and going over to the computer.

"We can't she asked us not to, she won't come back willingly even if we find her. That's a big if; Emma is really good at hiding from people." Adam said.

"Fine we wait a week, if she hasn't contacted us, then we start to look…hard." 

"Agreed," The team said in unison.

The next morning back in New York Emma was heading over to her job interview at The Lakeview Centre. She entered through glass doors into the front lobby and when she asked the secretary where she could find the Human Resources department Emma was escorted to a sunlight filled hallway on the east side of the building.

She was ushered in and sat in a surprisingly comfortable couch in the waiting area.

"Marie Hunting?" A tall, auburn haired woman looked around the room expectantly. Emma stood up and replied that she was Marie. She was soon seated across from the same woman in a pleasant, blue coloured office furnished in light oak furniture.

The woman had Emma's application in front of her, she opened it and the interview began.

"I see you have a degree in psychology as well as sociology."

"That's right" Emma said, nervously playing with the finger that used to house her comm.-ring, which was now safely tucked away in her room back at Sanctuary. 

"You are defiantly qualified for the assistant position, but tell me, honestly, why do you want this job, and why are you a good choice?" The woman, Erin Graves, looked intently at Emma.

"Well, I like people and I really want to help others. I think that I could do a really good job here, I have great empathic skills and I usually counsel based on the person's feelings not on how medical charts and doctors think the patient should be counselled. In my experience it makes the patient more at ease and they open up and share a lot more then if I just did it sterilely and without emotion. I get to know the patient and they in turn get better help." Emma felt confident in her answer, it has come from the heart but she hadn't come out and directly said she was a New Mutant with empathic abilities, just that she had a knack for sensing how people were feeling.

"That's a very good answer. I think you would be perfect for the job. Welcome to the team Ms. Hunting. I'll show you where you'll be working now." Ms. Graves lead Emma to a pale yellow office with oak furnishings, a window facing south and a large seascape over an azure couch.

"Its lovely," Emma ran her hand along the couch feeling the satiny texture and knew instantly that she would enjoy it here. The good vibrations in the room only further heightened her resolve to do an excellent job here. 'Well on another team, but at least this one will appreciate my skills.' She thought to herself.

"This is your office 5 days a week, you will start next week and your salary is paid bi-weekly. The income is $60 000 a year with a Christmas bonus, benefits and 2 weeks vacation time. You will also be working with Karrie; she's the secretary at the desk in waiting room. 

I have already transferred some patients to your care and more will be added as you get more used to the routine. Would you like to read about the patients you will be working with next week?" Erin said this while introducing Emma to a few of the other workers in the psychology/psychiatry wing.

"I'd love to get to know who I'll be seeing next week before hand."

"Great here you go."

Emma took the stack of folders and paced them in her briefcase, shook Erin's hand and headed back to the hotel where she was staying.

As she walked through the door Emma realised something very important, she has gotten the job without using her telempathic powers to influence her new boss. 

'Maybe I don't need them as much as I think I do' she thought as she was getting ready to read her patients folders, 'But I can still use them to help people who really need it.'

With that she settled down to read and look for an apartment to lease. If she was going to be here for a while, Emma figured she may as well get a place with an address where she could receive mail and her pay cheque, comfortably.


	3. Fellowship

A/N: Thank you for all of the kind reviews, to answer one yes I am from Canada, was it how I spelled colour that tipped you off? :D Oh and I have absolutely no idea who I will pair Emma with yet, so any ideas are welcome.

The Fellowship

All the members of Mutant X were a buzz by the third day of Emma's disappearance. Shalimar had taken to training incessantly, Brennan to bar hoping, and Jesse to surfing on the net for hours hoping to catch a cyber trail that Emma may have left behind. Adam was doing what he always did in a time of crisis; he locked him self in the lab for hours and hours blaming himself for Emma's surprise flight.

Shalimar jumped down from the dojo, her eyes flashing feral, brilliant gold. Emma's leave-taking had left her with a hole in her heart that hours of practice and denial couldn't fill. In the end, Shalimar had to admit the truth to herself. She missed Emma 

"That's it; I can't sit here hoping Emma will just show up on our doorstep in a few days. I need to do something. She could be hurt or in trouble, maybe she's in a ditch!"

Shalimar was getting increasingly more hysterical as her ramble continued; Brennan walked over and wrapped his arms around her. Kissing her forehead he murmured,

"It'll be okay Shal, we'll get through this. We just have to."

Shalimar got up, wiped her eyes, and walked to her room. Shutting the door she sat on her black satin sheets thinking.

'This is all my fault. I drove her away, why couldn't I just be nicer more understanding?' She slid under her covers and laid her head on a pillow. 'I am a horrible person, one of my pack is gone and I can't even bring myself to tell the others why.' Shalimar slowly closed her eyes and fell into an uneven slumber.

Emma looked at the apartment before her it was perfect. She gazed hungrily at the kitchenette imaging making dinner there on the Italian tile. There was a moderately sized fridge, dishwasher, and stove, all of the amenities she could ever want. Coupled with that a medium sized living room, large bedroom, and a full bathroom and Emma was in heaven.

She had never had a place of her own and now that she was getting it, it was almost to much to take.

"I'll take it!" She excitedly told the landlord who was showing her around.

"Okay, it's 1200 a month and you have to pay for your own utilities." The middle-aged man handed her a lease and Emma signed it on the spot. It was an amazing deal for New York and there was no way she was gong to let it pass her up.

"Okay here are your keys, it's all yours."

Emma laughed in delight planning all the furniture that she would buy this afternoon to furnish the large place.

Later that afternoon Emma found her self standing in Pier One, the store was megalithic the kind of superstore you could only find in a city of 22 million. She walked up and down the aisles looking at the furniture, breathing in the acrid scent of potpourri and feeling the textured surface of the Indian style pillows that seemed to be everywhere. 

Emma stopped dead when she rounded the corner of one of the larger aisles.

Sitting there in all it glory was a queen sized mahogany bed…on sale.

To Emma is seemed to glow and she purchased it, lamps, a table, a couch and a few other furnishings soon there after. It seemed like pier one was having a liquidation sale and she had walked right in on it. 

After making the arrangements to have the furniture delivered to her new apartment Emma went to the post office.

She had decided that she was going to send a letter, by conventional mail, to Mutant X. The team had a P.O. Box and checked it regularly. 

'I hope this will make them not look for me, if they know that I am safe then they shouldn't try.' Emma thought to herself as she bought postage stamps, realising that she couldn't send it from New York and that they may come here if she did Emma drove across the I-90 and entered Connecticut.

The trees were heading into the autumn season and the gold's, reds and oranges on the leaves outside made Emma feel free and content. She passed by several housing communities and an apple orchard and stopped when she came to a small postal office.

It was in a town called Hemlock, 750 people lived there and it said small town with a capital S. The emotional aura that Emma sensed upon entering the town was everywhere, the feeling of being carefree, happy and content permeated the air, the bricks even the ground and it left her with an inexplicable feeling of delight.

As Emma walked up the brick path and into the main room she began to think, 

'Was Mutant X experiencing the fall yet? Did they feel this happy?' Emma did not know the answer and thinking for a moment she re-opened her letter and added a post script.

Sealing it once again she quickly slipped it into the mail slot and headed back to her car, and the three hour drive back to New York City.

When she reached her new apartment there was a light blinking on her machine, when played it said:

"This is a message for Marie, this is your office calling. You have an appointment tomorrow with Katherine Newcastle at 2 p.m. This is just a reminder. Have a good night."

Emma smiled, excited to begin the week with a new patient, hopefully it would make the Monday go a little quicker. She quickly brushed her teeth, checked the locks and went to bed. She dreamed of the quiet New England town she had visited and hoped to return to soon.

The next day Emma got dressed in a black skirt, purple blouse and sensible heels. She wanted to look professional for her first day at the office. She walked in the doors and was greeted by Karrie, the blonde secretary who handed her Katherine Newcastle's folder.

Going to her office Emma opened it , hoping to get know a little more about the girl she was about to treat before the session began. As she was reading the folder it became all to clear that this girl needed some serious help. She had recently had her leg crushed in a boating accident and was having a hard time adjusting to life with only one leg and a prosthesis, she had also recently tried to kill herself. Emma thought about how best to treat her when Katherine came into the room.

She was a tall red haired girl, 17 years of age wearing a pair of jeans a white shirt with the word princess on it in silver letters.

"Hi Katherine, my names Marie and I believe you are here to talk to me today about some stuff that has been bothering you lately." Emma said walking over to the chair across from the couch that Katherine was currently occupying.

"Yeah, my parents think that I tried to kill myself because of my gimpy leg."

"Is that why?" Emma said, using her telempathic powers to send the girl feelings of calmness and safety. Emma was hoping that these emotions would over rule hers of fear and resentment.

"Yes and no." Katherine replied, pulling on a strand of her hair, "I think it's a lot about my leg, but I think that I'm mad at my parents as well."

Emma smiled to herself, this was working out better than she ever hoped, her powers had really helped this girl open up in a way she never would have with a conventional therapist.

"Are you made that your parents took you on the boat and then let their friends drive it or that you don't have your leg anymore?"

"Both, I just can't believe my parents were so stupid! My god Frank and Kelly were drunk out of their minds and they let them drive a boat!!" Kelly started to cry and Emma sent some more calm soothing emotional waves towards her. 

"Its okay Katherine, you can be mad. There's no reason you shouldn't be. Is that also why you tried to kill yourself? Were you trying to get back at your parents?"

"Yeah, but I didn't really want to die you know? I just wanted to see if they cared."

Emma nodded in understanding, it was almost exactly what she had done to her old team.

"I think it was a cry for help, but you're getting it now and that's all that matters."

"You know I kinda like you Marie, you're so much cooler than the last shrink they sent me to." Katherine said, laughing a bit at her own joke.

"I guess I'll take that as a complement." Emma replied, smiling.

45 minutes later their session was done and both Emma and Katherine felt infinitely better, Emma knew that she could do this job just as well as someone with the real qualifications and that her powers defiantly helped. She also felt very appreciated, and that was a feeling she hadn't felt in a long, long time.

Later that night, 10:00 o'clock,  Emma  was going home from work when she spied what looked like an attack. She stopped on the dark corner and peered around it to see the scuffle.

There seemed to be about ten people fighting each other. They were obviously on teams, and they were very well organised. One of them seemed to be in regular clothes, while the others were all in suits reminiscent of the G.S.A.  Emma was about to walk away, not wanting to be hurt when she saw something she was not expecting.

One of the females created a ball of orange flames in her hand and threw it at a couple of the guys in suits, it exploded and they flew backwards into a brick wall.

'They're New Mutant's!' Emma thought, she was torn should she help them and risk exposing her self to Mutant X or leave them alone to get hurt? Her mind was decided for her when one of the suited men saw her and raced towards her brandishing a taser.

Emma ran out from behind the wall and concentrated, she could feel the warm tingling sensation that always came before a psyonic blast. The pinkish-yellow light appeared on her forehead and she shot it at the guy, it hit him square in the chest and he too went flying. The other team gaped at her as she proceeded to punch another agent in the jaw.

"Are you guys going to help me or not?" Emma yelled at them ducking the blow of another assailant.

The other team leapt into the fray and soon all of the suited men were disposed of.

"Who are you guys?" Emma asked.

"We're The Fellowship."


	4. Frolicking

Frolicking

"We're The Fellowship, we are a secret New Mutant team and we fight a large branch of the G.S.A that is situated in New York City as well as other rogue New Mutants." A tall, brown-haired man said.

"Oh, so are you part of the Underground?" Emma asked, almost dreading the response. If they were working in conjunction with the Underground, there's no way she could be a part of it. Mutant X would find her very easily through their Underground contacts.

"No we work strictly free lance. We all hold down full time jobs and have good social lives. If you join the underground you are officially in hiding…and what's the fun in that?" Replied a short blonde woman, she was the same one who has shot fire out of her hands.

"I take it you're a New Mutant as well? That glowing energy thing kicked ass," asked a red-haired, green eyes woman.

"Yep, I came here looking for an …escape, but I guess fighting the G.S.A is a true calling for me." Emma's watch beeped, 11:00 pm, she had to get back to her apartment, and she still had to work tomorrow at 9 am.

"I have to go…" Emma turned and started to walk back up the narrow street to the main throughway.

"Wait, here's my card. Call me and we'll talk more." The blonde handed her a business card, and with that they all went on their separate ways.

It was three days after that incident and Emma was sitting at home, by her telephone, turning the card over and over in her hands contemplating its implications.

Did she want to be on another team? Would they take her for granted too?

Despite her reservations Emma picked up the phone and dialled the number on the card. A woman's voice came on the line, and said "Hello?"

Emma quickly looked at the card in her hand the name was Gillian Waxer.

"May I please speak to Gillian?" 

"Yes one moment please" Emma was only on hold for a couple seconds when a familiar voice came on the line.

"Hello, this is Gillian Waxer how can I help you?"

"Yes I believe you can. Do the words Children of Genomex mean anything to you?"

"What the hell?! Who is this?" There was a slight pause and then she continued, "Wait are you the woman from a few nights ago?" Gillian sounded considerably less panicked by the end of her short sentence.

"Yes I am, you said to call you and we could talk." Emma replied a lilt to her voice from the absurdity of the situation.

"So I did, well can you meet me at 44 Hutchinson Avenue in 30 minutes?"

"Yes,"

"Okay I'll see you there. Then we can get down to business."

"Great, bye." Emma hung up the phone and laughed, that was one of the shortest but most stressful phone calls of her life. Now she only had 30 minutes to get ready for a meeting that might change the rest of her stay in New York.

Sanctuary was a buzz with excitement. Jesse had gone down to the P.O. Box they kept for snail mail and had been surprised to find a letter addressed to the whole team.

Hoping against hope he waited for the whole team to assemble in the main living room before he opened the letter.

"Come on Jesse just open it!" Brennan said, impatient to get on with it.

"Okay, here goes." Jesse opened the letter post marked Hemlock, Connecticut and paused skimming the page.

"It's from Emma."

There was a collective sigh, they knew that their team mate was safe and maybe the letter was an indication that she was coming home.

"Great, what does she have to say for herself?" Shalimar replied, instantly regretting her accusing tone of voice. In a self abasing voice she replied, "Sorry I'm just jumpy, will you read it out loud please Jesse."

"Dear the Mutant X Team,

I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay. I figured you might be worried enough to actually launch a search for me so to prevent that I'm sending this.

Don't worry about me, I have a job and am doing okay. I think I'll send a letter every once in a while,

- Emma Delauro"

"Is that it Jesse?" Adam asked.

"Yup…no wait there's a P.S. at the bottom: 

_Yet knowing how way leads on to way,  
I doubted if I should ever come back.  
I shall be telling this with a sigh  
Somewhere ages and ages hence:  
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-  
I took the one less traveled by,  
And that has made all the difference. ¹_

That's it, what does that mean?" Jesse pondered aloud.

"Its Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, how does she know Robert Frost?" Adam said,

"I don't know, Emma doesn't really seem like the type to be reading Robert Frost." Brennan replied.

"Do we even know what type she is, in all this time did we even ask her what books she liked to read? God, do we even know her at all?" Shalimar replied, her eyes downcast she looked defeated and worried. 

"Shalimar, its okay we'll get her back and then we'll be able to ask her all the questions we never did when she was with us." Adam said wrapping Shalimar in a hug.

"What if it's too late?" Shalimar whispered.

"It's never too late." 

Emma waited on the stoop out side of 44 Hutchinson Avenue, the old brownstone house still had an air of authority to it even after the years of not housing aristocrats and the air outside was getting slightly chilled now, signalling the coming of winter. She was about to leave when a green Chevrolet pulled up and Gillian Waxer stepped out.

"Sorry I'm late, work was a bitch.."

"Its okay I understand that." Emma replied, rubbing her hands together in a futile attempt to get warm.

"You must be freezing please come inside."

Emma was lead into an entry way tiled in crimson, gold and black tiles and wallpapered in paper with a toile pattern. There was the sound of a fountain some where in the house and somewhere a computer hummed. Emma reached her senses out and could feel the emotions of about 4 more people, none of them hostile.

She took off her coat and stood in her brown leather boots, jean jacket with fur trim and jean skirt for about 4 minutes taking in the opulent atmosphere before Gillian gave a small laugh and leas her into what looked like a living room. It had a couch, some chairs and a television. 

Seated on the furnishings were two people Emma recognised from three days ago in the alley. The looked up in surprise and then broke into grins,

"I see you finally got up the nerve to call Gilly here." One of the man said, running a hand through his wavy brown here.

"I sure did, so who are you guys. I mean other than a covert mutant fighting unit." Emma asked with a grin.

"One second, Nicole! Shannon! Get down here we have a guest." The second blonde haired man yelled.

Emma heard footsteps coming down the stairs and two women came into the room. The red head from the other night who spoke to Emma and a woman with short, spiked blue hair.

"We really should really make introductions, first yourself." The blue haired woman said.

"My names Marie Hunting, and I am a telempath."

"Great! Well You already know my name, Gillian, but I am a Thermal Elemental who controls fire. Next?"

"Hi, I'm Alex. I'm a Feline Feral." The blonde haired man stood up, and waved flashing his eyes for a second. He gestured to the man beside him to go next.

"I'm Nox and I am a Gravitative and  Intangible molecular, basically I can make things real heavy or real soft and I can walk through solid walls." 

"I am also an elemental, but I can control electricity. Ohh and my name is Nicole " The red-headed woman replied.

"I guess I'm always last eh?" The blue-haired woman said, "Well my names Shannon and I'm the second Feline Feral on the team."

"Wow you guys certainly have a mix going here." Emma replied a little stunned at the quick introductions.

"Well what we don't have is a Psionic. Do you think you want to fill the void?" Asked Nox. Emma thought for a moment, considering what she had gone through with Mutant X she wasn't completely sure she wanted to commit to another team, but Emma also didn't think that she could live her life in New York knowing that somewhere these people were fighting for their lives and could need her help.

"I'm in."

Emma was shown the rest of the house, most of which was actually underground and hidden using complex computer programs and holo-fields. They had a large garage of cars, not as big as Mutant X's but still bigger than most people's car collections and the biggest surprise of all was yet to come.

Nox and Shannon led Emma to a concealed hanger. Inside was a stealth plane.

"We got the idea from Adam's Mutant X plane. We figured that it'd come in really use full and it has. It's much easier to fly in New York than it is to drive around on the streets, and much faster." Shannon said, showing Emma the controls and how to basically work the plane.

"The hanger is on a slant and half of the backyard is a holo-field that conceals the exit to this room. We pretty much just get the engines running and fly right out of the backyard, that's why whenever we fly it you have to be really careful to always have the cloak on. It would scare the neighbours to pieces." Nox said with a laugh.

"Why don't people hear it?" Emma asked.

"It has very very quite engines, they're specially designed for the plane. Actually every part is designed for this plane." 

Emma was also shown the training room, which was on the second floor and had gorgeous views of a ravine to the back of the property, and state of the art equipment. To her joy there was also a small man made pond already installed in the complex and when she inquired about it Nicole replied that it helped her to relax.

When she went home Emma felt at peace, she realised that it wasn't the team idea that had made her feel badly but the members of the team itself. She still couldn't believe that Shalimar had lied to the others about what was really wrong with her, sometimes Emma found herself thinking about what Mutant X was doing at that moment and she would get sad at the fact that she had to leave in order to feel better. She had originally thought that it had to be the other way round, but as she had gone to work, hammered out a daily routine for herself, and not worried about what Brennan, Jesse, Adam and Shalimar thought she became less stressed out and finally felt free to be who she really was, and to get help for her problem.

It had been 2 weeks since she had officially joined The Fellowship.

Everyday after working at the Centre she would come to the brownstone house, now know affectionately as Haven, and train with the others members of the group. While Shannon and Alex taught her physical training she worked on control with Nox on control.

Emma had made great progress in two weeks and already felt quite close to the other members, especially Nox.

As she walked in the door Emma decided that it was time to tell them the truth, at least a partial version of the truth. 

'Maybe then they can help me, lord knows Mutant X did nothing and Adam even had his EED machine look at me!'

Emma walked to the training room and pulled open the double doors. Inside Shannon and Alex were fighting. It was like seeing two feral cats go at it in an alley, except much more gracefully. They were doing it bare fisted and their eyes glowed like cats.

Shannon seemed to be losing but with a quick round house kick to the head Alex was down. Shannon was poised to pounce when Alex flipped over her and rapped her smartly on the shoulder. Shannon slammed her arm backwards in an uppercut but Alex managed to dodge it.

Emma stood leaning against the wall, arms crossed and giggled. She concentrated and sent Alex an image of himself with his legs bound. Falling over he screamed; 

"Marie that's not fair! Using your powers to help Shannon is cheating!"

"And what would you say  if I used to help you?"

"Great!" Alex replied getting off the floor and conceding defeat to Shannon who jumped up and down and did a short victory dance.

"So M what's happening?" Asked Shannon, getting a towel off of the rack and wiping her hands before shaking Alex's.

"Well I need your help." 

"Just ask and we'll do what ever we can." Replied Nicole joining them with four glasses of juice, which she promptly handed over to the two fighters and Emma.

"I've been having some trouble with my telempathy and I-I don't know how to solve it," Emma said closing her eyes and wiping away the tears that threatened to come pouring out. "Sometimes I think I might be going crazy, and-and I don't know what to do!" Emma broke down crying; Nicole quickly put down the serving tray and put her arms around her distraught team member.

"Don't worry honey; we'll help you in what ever way you need us to. We're a team; we'll always be there for you."


	5. Fate

Before the story starts I'm going to start with some reviews,

Chagne/the (wicked) red hood: Wow! You know I never realised that that sentence made no sense, but now that I look at it ... Thanks for the in-depth critique! I think you are right about the job, but I figure she has a great resume, personality and the Centre was in need… and I wanted to not spend a massive amount of time on that part too.

Vixen: It seems as if you have a sense for Canadians! LOL

Ally: I thought you were a die hard Jesse/Emma shipper? Still it's all good.

Thanks for all of the kind reviews thus far!

As for the relationship problem, I think I will make it someone from the Fellowship, add some drama. The thing with Shalimar will be revealed in time, a girls got to be a little mysterious! :D Any way onto the fic!

Fate

Nicole, Shannon and Alex brought Emma down to the living room. Her crying had now subsided to silent tears, somehow more worrisome then the sobbing she had done upstairs. Emma sat on the large, red couch and pulled her knees up to her chest, a protective gesture. Nox brought in some chamomile tea and handed a cup to Emma,

"Here you go," He watched as she drank a little bit of it and visibly calmed. "Can you tell us what's bothering you now?"

Emma set the cup down on a coaster on the coffee table and sighed,

"If I tell you the truth you have to promise not to laugh." She said, remembering Shalimar's puzzling reaction a few weeks ago.

Emma closed her eyes, "I am a psionic. I can sense and manipulate people emotions, but the-the thing is, is that sometimes I find myself being too drawn into the person."

The others looked at her expecting Emma to continue; she had another sip of the tea and started to talk again, "Its like I am the other person, Em-Marie doesn't exist anymore and I can only feel the emotions of the other person. Sometimes I can hear what they are thinking…that's not supposed to happen! I'm a telempath not a telepath, there's a distinct difference!" A tear ran down her cheek and fell onto her sweater, she quickly wiped it away.

"Marie, you don't have to continue if it's going to be too much." Said Gillian, placing a hand on Emma's knee, and rubbing it in a soothing gesture, trying to placate Emma's already frayed nerves.

"It's okay, I've tried to deny this for a long time, it's time I told someone who'll help me the truth. Anyway so sometimes I can still hear their thoughts, the people whose emotions I have manipulated in the past. There are times that I don't even know if the emotions I am feeling are mine…or someone else's. At times it's like lucid dreaming, I'm there and I can see myself saying stuff, but it's not me you know?" The others nodded and waited for her to finish her story.

"I've woken up in the night, dreaming about places I've never been, and the dreams are too real to have been imagined. I have thoughts about stuff that I never would normally, like-like killing people and I've woken up a few times, I didn't know what I was doing… holding a knife, or standing on the edge of a tall pier, but I think I was subconsciously trying to kill myself." Emma trailed off, too ashamed at her own admissions.

"You must think I'm nuts," She whispered. "I better go." Emma got up and turned to leave when a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"We'll help you, we all will." She turned and the hand on her shoulder was Nox's, "We're a team now, its what we do. Now first off we don't think you're crazy, well crazier then the average human being that is."

"I agree. We can figure this out together." Nicole replied.

"Okay." Emma said quietly.

She sat back down, thankful that she did not have to work the next day, and The Fellowship drew up a plan.

Emma went upstairs to rest and when she laid on the soft bed made with red sheets

She instantly fell into the first dreamless sleep she had had in a long time.

When she awoke Emma realised that it was morning and panicking for a minute she thought, 'Oh my god, I have to get to work!' She stumbled out of the bed and as she was reaching for her bathrobe Emma laughed, she didn't have to work today and she wasn't in her own home.

Chuckling to herself she went downstairs to the kitchen and made some toast.

Nox sauntered in, he was dressed in a robe, soft grey pants and sneakers. Muttering to himself he opened the fridge and poured a glass of orange juice for himself and Emma.

"Thanks Nox," She replied taking the drink gratefully.

"S, last night Gillian and I were doing some research and we think that we may have an answer as to what's been going on with you… we believe that you carry psychic imprints of everyone who you've touched with your powers in your mind. Some of them are stronger than others, it just depends on the type of person that they are, the stronger their personality."

Emma stood at the counter, pondering Nox and Gillian's results. She could feel the water droplets on the side of her cup begin to run down her hand. Blinking she said, "You know that makes a lot of sense. It's a pretty easy answer too," In her mind she thought; 'Then why didn't Adam figure it out?' continuing on she remarked, "Thanks Nox, it means so much to me to finally know what wrong with me."

Nox pulled her into a hug and said, "Do you want to meet the person who is going to help you get rid of the imprints?"

"Yes." 

Nox parked the black Jetta in front of a bungalow, they were in the suburbs west of New York City and all they had seen while driving there was families with small children playing in their yards. It was a welcome change from the homeless and destitute people of the big city. 

Emma opened the passenger side door and cast her telempathic senses out; she could fell no malevolence out there, only good will and happiness. She quickly shut the door and Nox lead her up to the front door, ringing the door bell that played the meowmix song, and waited. A few seconds later a tall, robust black women answered the door.

She kissed Nox's cheek and shook Emma's hand; she brought them into a sunny living room and offered them scones. Emma politely declined and Nox took one.

"So, I 'ere that you are needing mah 'elp?" The women, Ami, said in a New Orleans twang.

"Yes, um-you see I have these "gifts" and I've been having trouble with them lately." Emma trailed off glancing at Nox who smiled his encouragement.

"I see, Nox 'ere 'as told me 'bout your difficulties, I too am a child of Genomex. I'm a telepath… I 'ad similar difficulties as yourself a few years back, don't worry I can certainly 'elp you." 

"How exactly?"

"It's all 'bout meditation and finding yer centre and pushing the thoughts an' feelings that aren't yours to the back of yer mind." Ami leaned forward and took Emma's hand, "Marie do you want to start now?" 

"I would, I don't think that I-I can deal with them by myself for much longer." Emma whispered the last part, a tear trickled down her cheek. It was then that Nox realised the pain that Emma must be in. He came over and squeezed her shoulder,

"Do you want me to stay with you?" He inquired.

"It's okay I have to do this on my own."

Ami got up and took Emma's hand, leading her to a small greenhouse in the corner of the backyard. Nox did not move, but said he would wait in the living room until they were done.

Emma stepped into a new world when she entered Ami's greenhouse. It was filled to the ceiling with plants, both exotic and native to the eastern United States. There was the faint trickle of water in the background, but other then that all of the noise from outside was effectively blocked out when the main door was shut.

Ami and Emma sat on cushions positioned in the center of the room, they were quite easy and Emma found herself become content and her mind became quiet. She was slipping easily into her old pattern of mediation and Ami remarked at how easy Emma was finding it.

"Now I am going to join your mind to mine, it will be a guided meditation."

Emma just nodded her approval; Ami concentrated and reached out to Emma through her telepathy. Emma felt a tiny pressure as Ami entered her mind, but it was not uncomfortable. Soon the two were breathing in synchronicity and the meditation truly began.

'Marie, imagine yourself in a place you feel really safe and comfortable in.' 

Emma began to think about Sanctuary, and then she quickly changed her mind and called up the image of the quaint town of Hemlock. The leaves were still burnished in autumn hues and there was the scent of apple orchards. She smiled and signalled Ami that she had done as she had asked.

'Great, now walk through this place and try to sense the conflicting personalities that are present in your mind.'

Emma walked down the main street, with its small stores and old-world charm. She stopped, and closed her eyes when she reached the postal office and concentrated, she could feel small pinpricks of minds that were not her own and tried to corral them into one place.

She concentrated on getting all of the submerged minds to conflagrate in one place, this took Emma some time and when she opened her eyes to view her handiwork there was a thin film of sweat on her forehead and she felt tired.

Faintly she could feel the presence of Ami urging her onward and giving her strength.

Looking around she saw a massive crowd of people, some she recognised others she did not. 

'Now this is the 'ardest part. You must try to, one by one; exercise them from your mind. You 'ave to try and let go of these people's memories. Only after you 'ave done so will you be free of them. Just go up to them one by one and tell them to leave, concentrate on freeing your mind of the other consciouses that encumber it.'

Emma walked over to the very first person; it was a young woman who she vaguely remembered coercing into buying a dress when she worked at Gregors'.  Emma placed a hand on her shoulder and asked her if she would please leave. The woman nodded and her image slowly faded out of existence. The next person she remembered intensely, Brennan.

She had first met Brennan a club, they were both on the run and it was just before they had met Mutant X. She had had a vision of him being strangled; this was the tie that bound his imprint to her mind. Hugging him tightly she softly asked him to leave her mind; the image seemed to be confused for a moment. He then smiled, his body becoming little more then mist as he too disappeared from her mind. Emma did this for a long time, asking and sometimes pleading, with people to leave her. She placed a hand on a shoulder or an arm as she did this, but when she came to those she had formed a deep friendship with, namely the members of Mutant X, she enveloped them in a hug.

Emma cleared her mind, she felt as if a deep weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. When she opened her eyes she saw Nox hovering nearby, Ami too opened her eye's and gave Emma hug,

"You 'ave to do this exercise at least three times a week. Most of the impressions will be gone now, but those of the more… powerful personalities will take a bit longer to leave completely." Ami and Emma got off of their pillows and headed back out, Nox and Emma had come in the morning and now it was dusk, the sun just setting in the distance.

"How long was I doing this for?" Emma inquired.

"Almost eight hours," Nox replied "I called the others to tell them were okay, they're expecting us back at the house. I think Alex said something about a gourmet dinner to celebrate your liberation."

Emma laughed at this; it was such an Alex comment.  She said goodbye to Ami, and made a date with her to go back and have tea with her one day. As they were leaving Ami pulled her aside saying,

"You are not what you appear to be Marie Hunting…or should I say Emma Delauro?"

"Please don't tell anyone, I can't go back, not yet." Emma's voice was tinged with regret, sadness, and fear.

"Do not worry pet, what little I found in your mind will remain between you and me. I promise you no one else will find out. Now you best be getting on your way, it seems as if you have a dinner to get to. But remember our tea next week." Ami hugged her once more, and Emma smiled safe in the knowledge that what ever Ami knew of her past she was not going to reveal.

"Bye Ami, I won't forget."

Emma and Nox drove back to the house, awaiting them was a six course meal prepared lovingly by the other members of The Fellowship, when they had finished eating Emma said goodnight to the rest of team and went back to her apartment.

Sitting cross-legged on her bed she slowly drifted back into her meditation, she cleansed her mind once more, turned off the light on her bedside table and went to sleep.

She had to go to work tomorrow, and she wanted to give Katherine her utmost attention.


	6. Fortune

Fortune

I'm back, it's been awhile since I have updated and for this I am sorry. School and family crap has gotten in the way but I hope to update more frequently now. Onto the story!

Emma woke up to the irritating buzz of her alarm, rolling over her eyes squinted in the glare of the early morning sun. Groaning Emma got up and took a shower, today was a new day and a new beginning for her. The start of a life hopefully free of the intrusions her previous one had had. Walking over to her oak dresser Emma pulled out a blue cashmere sweater set and black dress pants, pulling them on she remembered the last time she had worn the shirt.

She and Jesse had gone to a midnight carnival; he had won her a pink leopard that sat on her bed in Sanctuary for weeks afterward. They had gone without telling the rest of the team and Adam was quite mad when they returned, but they just made their apologies and went back to eating the chilli dogs they had brought back. That was one of the only carefree days Emma could remember, most of the other things to do with Mutant X revolved around kicking G.S.A ass and always looking over your shoulder. She was glad to be rid of those days.

Grabbing a bagel out of her bread box Emma geared up for another day at the office. Checking her e-mail and voice messages she made a resolution to send another letter to Mutant X soon, maybe within the month, depending on her mood.

Walking into her office Emma leisurely sipped at her latte until Katherine arrived. 

When she walked in Emma immediately sensed a tangled web of emotions, Katherine wore her feelings like armour and today that armour was full of spikes. Focusing on her mind, Emma sent Katherine soothing, calming emotions towards her. She hoped that they would sooth the savage emotions that overwhelmed Emma's psionic senses.

The emotions seemed to do the trick and although the jagged harsh emotions didn't disappear completely they did lessen.

"So Katherine, what would you like to talk about today?" Emma inquired.

"I don't know," She spit out, venom lacing every word.

"You seem upset," Emma said, sending another barrage of calming emotions towards Katherine, "Why don't we start with why you are more…aggressive this morning."

"You really want to know why?" Katherine asked incredulously, Emma nodded. 

"Yes I do, and then maybe we can work towards a resolution."

"It's my fucking parents," huffed Katherine, crossing her arms defensively across her chest and staring defiantly out the office window. "They are such egotistical, self-centred, morons."

"Why is that? What happened over the weekend?"

"They fucking saw Frank and Kelly again! When the accident first happened they were like, 'oh we'll never see them again not after what happened to you'… now they act like buddies again, like my leg getting chopped off never happened."

Katherine absently rubbed her prosthesis, a nervous gesture and one that spoke to Emma more then words could have.

"Do you wish that you could have your leg back?"

"God yes! I didn't even lose it through my own stupidity…"

"How is your new leg working out?" Emma asked, shifting in her chair a bit easing the ache in her lower back. 

"Its okay, I saw this really nice one in a catalogue though, its mechanical and they have this technique where it works with the electronic impulses in your muscles. It looks pretty real too, they can dye it to look like your skin colour, and it is more malleable then this crappy plastic one." Katherine had a wistful grin on her face when she finished her leg tirade, Emma probed a bit deeper into Katherine's mind and was surprised when she came upon the image of a smiling teenager. He appeared to be about 18 and was a tall brunette.

"What about your love life, anything new?" Emma prodded Katherine, maybe if she could get her to open up about this new boy she could get some more out of her then monosyllabic grunts.

"Well, there is this one guy."

"Go on,"

"His name is Michael and he is really cute, he asked me to the winter formal, but I said no." Worry creased Katherine's forehead for a minute, "I didn't think he would want to go the dance with a cripple."

"Oh Katherine, did you ever think that maybe he asked you because he liked you and didn't care if you only had one leg?"

"I dunno," She seemed deep in though, ruminating over the possibility that maybe someone didn't care that she was missing part of a leg.

"It is possible you know, you're an attractive girl and seem to have a good personality when your not angry."

Katherine gave a deep laugh, Emma thought 'Now we're getting somewhere,'

"I guess, maybe I should ask him if he wants to go with me still."

"What's the worst that could happen right? He could say no, but since he asked you first I'll bet you fifty bucks he says yes." Emma smiled and patted Katherine's hand, "Just try it. You'll look nice in a formal dress, and besides you only live once right?" Or twice, thought Emma and only if you change your identity.

"Damn straight! I'll do it; do you think you could talk to my dumb ass parents? They could probably do with some therapy."

"One thing at a time," Emma said with a laugh.

The rest of their session continued on without incident and Emma made an appointment to talk with Katherine's parents, in a one time joint session. Emma suggested that Katherine wear a green dress, saying that she would think about it and would give Emma pictures after the dance. Katherine left Emma's office much happier then when she had come in, and this made Emma happier then any time she had helped put a new mutant into The Underground.

The rest of the day followed in stride, she had a few consultations and talked with one patient about her bizarre fear of garden hoses. All in all it was quite a productive day, and Emma left feeling much more assured of her place in the working world.

When she got home Emma made her way to The Fellowship house.

When she walked into the house no one seemed to be there, calling out;

"Nox? Shannon? Anyone?" and getting no reply Emma settled herself in for a relaxing night.

Unfortunately it was not to be, three hours later Nox and Alex burst in.

"We've got trouble." Alex said, out of breath. It seemed they had run all the way back to the brownstone.

"Shannon and Gillian were captured, they're being held at the old brewery."

Emma got up, "Just let me change into my fighting clothes."

In record time the motley crew was outside the Johnson Brewery, searching for possible entrances. Nox and Alex shared a short whispered conversation, and with Alex's eyes blazing in golden feral fury he jumped up to the roof.

"Okay here's what we're going to do. Alex is going to go in through the roof; we are going to go in through the wall on the east end. That's where Alex smells them," Nox grabbed Emma's hand and phased the wall.

They furtively went through the temporary opening in the wall, and walked down a small dank hallway. They ran down a few more corridors before Emma abruptly stopped.

"We need to go left," She said.

"What, but Alex said to go straight." Nox replied.

"Trust me, they're this way."

Trusting Emma's psionic sense more then Alex's feral senses Nox followed Emma's lead. Keeping watch for any surprise intruders.

Following a twisting maze of passages and rooms, Emma and Nox soon made it to the main distilling room of the brewery.

The room was filled with old fashioned machines used to make spirits and all manner of liquor. The brewery had gone the way of the dinosaurs when the Labatt plant opened on 24th street, and now it was just another derelict building slowly turning into dust.

Nox ushered Emma across a catwalk towards the open centre of the room.

There tied and gagged were Shannon and Gillian, along with twenty agents.

Nervously Emma looked around for Alex, and saw him perched on top of an empty group of wine barrels. Motioning to him, she and Nox slowly and quietly made their way to opposing ends of the room, this way they could box in the agents and prevent escape.

'Oh god, oh god, what am I going to do. I can't possibly fight 8 agents…guess this is where the fight training pays off,' Emma though taking a deep breath and locking up her mental barriers, readying herself for the emotional onslaught that would occur soon.

'Here goes nothing,'

Emma ran into the room launching psionic blasts at the nearest agents, incapacitating them. Stepping around the writhing bodies Emma was quickly engaged in a fist fight, her attacker was a man, who was obviously more physically adept then her. Emma fell down, trying to get up she was swiftly kicked in the stomach.

Groaning Emma whipped her right leg around and tripped the violent agent on his ass. Grinning with pleasure she hit him in the head with an especially volatile blast, making sure that all he saw for the next couple of hours was an endless undulation of snakes.

Making quick work of the other two agents, she looked towards Shannon and Gillian.

Rushing to them Emma untied their bonds, checking quickly to see if they had any life threatening injuries. Luckily it appeared that they did not.

"How are you guys doing?" She asked, helping them up as Nox and Alex finished off the last of the G.S.A goons.

"Well we got kidnapped, beaten and tied to a rusty chair with pointy bits jabbing our backs. Gee I'd say we're peachy," replied Gillian.

Rolling her eyes Shannon said, "We're good. Thank god that you showed up when you did…we might be mutant mush by now."

Running out of the plant The Fellowship in its entirety dispersed into the night, promising to meet up at "HQ", as the brownstone was now affectionately known, in a couple of hours to make plans on how to not get kidnapped again.

Nox and Emma headed off down Softmore Street, which headed straight to an area heavily populated with bistros and late night coffee/restaurant combinations.

Nox wrapped his arm around Emma, the night air was getting chilled and snow was looking imminent. Winter would soon descend upon the city, and it would be Emma's first white Christmas without Mutant X.

 She was looking forward to spending Christmas curled up with a good book, and maybe a good man. She looked at Nox, and grasped his hand pulling him into a small corner restaurant with only three patrons. He looked at her and smiled, knowing Emma's decisions were usually right on the money.

"Do you feel like dinner?" He asked.

"Always," Emma replied. "I'll have the chicken with sweet pepper sauce and a Perrier." She said to the twenty-something waiter, who smiled and inquired as to what Nox might like.

"I'll have a glass of the house red and the chop house steak plate."

Giving the menus to the waiter who left to get their dinners ordered, Emma took off her jacket, mitts and hat revealing an all black outfit.

"It's too bad I couldn't change before we had an impromptu date,"

"Is this a date?" Nox hesitantly asked her, rubbing the table cloth absently with his index finger.

"Um, well-you see I," Emma took a breath and tried again, "I really would like it to be. I like you a lot Nox. We haven't known each other for very long but I feel safe with you."

"Safe?" He repeated.

"I haven't exactly dated the most … secure guys. I am kind of a trouble magnet." Emma said, thinking about Caleb, the vampire like new mutant who had seduced her and tried to kill her.

"I won't hurt you Marie, I like you too much." Nox said with a smirk, leaning over he gave her a soft kiss. Emma let her barriers down just a bit, and revelled in his feelings for her. They were without pretence and she knew that he was telling the truth; maybe she could do the same? That thought was squashed as the waiter brought out their first course of salad and they settled in for a nice, and finally romantic night.

Back at Sanctuary Shalimar and Jesse were training, readying themselves for another exhaustive battle with what was left of the G.S.A, they has more pressing needs to attend to.

Walking up the Dojo steps Adam stopped the simulation,

"I think that's enough for tonight, good job both of you. Jesse you're getting a lot better, and Shalimar you have really gotten a handle on your enhanced feral prowess."

Revealing in praise that was rarely heard from Adam anymore, both members of Mutant X smiled. 

"Thanks," They said in unison.

Brennan entered the main room with the newest recruit. Her name was Kylie and she was a psionic, although telekinetic and not telempathic. She had been on the team for only a few short weeks, but was already a valued member.

"Hey guys," she said. "Just to give you a recap Brennan and I put two more into The Underground and managed to get rid of another five agents." Kylie said giving Jesse a quick kiss, while flopping down on the couch and putting her feet up, getting ready for a well deserved nights sleep.

"Great job sweetie, see I told you guys another psionic was just what we needed." Jesse said, and then realising what he said managed to look both angry and ashamed at himself for bringing up Emma's abrupt disappearance. As well as hoping he hadn't angered his new girlfriend.

"It's okay Jesse," Shalimar wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "Emma left, she's been gone for months. I really don't think she's coming back and it-it was time to bring our team back to six members."

"That's right, we can't dwell on her," Brennan said, anger lacing his words. "She split, and didn't even call. One freaking letter in three months…she really cared!"

"Brennan! That's enough, Emma was always somewhat of a drifter, sometimes I expected to wake up and have her gone…I just didn't expect her to do it. I'm going to bed." Adam left to go to his bedroom and sleep off the tension that had built up in his upper back.

"Can't we just look for her?" asked Jesse.

"She asked us not to, and can you imagine if we did? I don't really want a pissed off Emma out for my blood." Replied Shalimar, who turned and making her way to her cave yelled, "You all had better get some sleep tomorrow…big day and all that!"

Jesse sighed and pulled Kylie off of the couch, taking her back to their bedroom.

Brennan went back to the garage, still trying to outfit one of the Audis with a surround sound system.

A few weeks later Emma and Nox were still in the closet with their relationship. They had managed to fool the ferals and so far were continuing a secretive but wholly pleasing relationship.

They went to foreign films, classy restaurants and museum openings together. It was the culture filled evenings that were especially exciting to Emma, they were one of the few things she had not gotten to partake in while a member of Mutant X. Going out when not on a mission was not encouraged by Adam and not going to some sleazy nightclub was frowned upon by Shalimar and Brennan. Jesse was the only one who ever seemed up to doing something else, but he was usually out with his girlfriend of the moment.

That night they had gone to the opening of a gallery of a friend in Maine. Julia Killian lived in the capital, Augusta, and was opening an exhibit of her art which was inspired by the country side. She was a painter, but her pictures looked like photographs, and it was a high profile event but Emma knew that none of her team-mates bothered to read the arts section of any newspaper much less of the Maine Tribune. 

Walking through the stone encircled entrance Nox leaned down and whispered,

"You look great tonight Marie, that dress is…gorgeous," Emma knew that she had made the right choice of evening wear, the revealing but not skanky gown was black and emphasized her best features.

"So do you," She replied giving Nox a quick peck on the cheek and obviously checking him out in the black suit he had worn for the occasion.

"Nox! Marie!" They both turned and saw Julia walking towards them, arms out stretched, "I'm so glad you could come, and all the way from New York!" 

"Would we miss your first exhibit?" Said Emma, laughing and giving Julia a quick hug.

"What kind of friends would be then?" Nox added, giving her his own hug.

"Hmmm the bad kind I presume? Ohh I wanted to ask you both, are you together?" Julia asked a grin on her face, eyeing their entwined hands.

"In the sense of being in a relationship, yes." Replied Nox.

"I knew it, come on you have to meet Jayson, my current beau." Julia said leading towards an imposing looking African-American with two glasses of champagne precariously perched in his arms.

"Wait Julia, one picture please with your lovely guests," said a short balding man in a tuxedo who was brandishing a camera.

Going as pale as the table clothes which ensconced the tables nearby, Emma stopped and said with a nervous tinge to her voice, 

"I-I have to go to the uh um bathroom, yeah the bathroom…" She ran off, Nox looked over at the disappearing back of his girlfriend and shrugging his excuse ran after her.

"Marie? Marie?" Nox called, finally locating his erstwhile girlfriend sitting quietly looking out onto a large pond. The moonlight played along her milky skin and Nox took off his jacket. Draping it around her shoulders he said,

"Now why the rush my dear? Its just a picture." 

Emma sighed and shook herself out of the self imposed stupor saying,

"I just can't be in a newspaper…any newspaper."

"What? I don't understand, it's not like you're a criminal." He said, briefly wondering if maybe she was and that was why Marie had such an adverse reaction to having her picture taken.

"I'm not a criminal Nox," She replied.

"Hey no fair reading me," He said stroking her temple and giving a quick peck to her forehead.

"I just have a past I don't want catching up with me yet, there are people out there who probably want to find me, but I just can't go back to the life I had before-not now and probably not ever!" Emma started to cry, this was the closest she had ever come to telling anyone in The Fellowship who she really was, and it was oddly frightening.

"Okay, but tell me one thing…are you running from a prostitution ring or a drug cartel?" Nox asked, fearing the worst about his loving partner.

"No silly, just a team I used to belong to. They didn't really appreciate me, so I left and didn't tell them where I was going. Simple as that." Feeling immensely more calm now that at least she had told the partial truth to someone.

"That's it?"

"Yep."

"Oh Marie, don't worry I won't do anything you don't want to do. Do you want to tell Alex and the rest yet?"

"No, I really need to deal with some stuff by myself…and now maybe with you. The team I used to belong to was also a new mutant team, but with no real jobs and no social life outside of fighting the G.S.A. I needed a permanent break from that, but I know if given the chance they will try to get me back. Now let's stop resurrecting old ghosts and get back to the party, hopefully Julia will forgive me."

With Nox's jacket still around her shoulders and her make free of tear stains Emma and Nox went back to the gallery, rejoicing in their friends new found success and revelling in a night free of New Mutant mayhem.


	7. At The Threshold

Wow it's been almost two years since I updated. My apologies but after they killed off Emma on Mutant X I just stopped watching … and then it didn't air in Canada, go figure with it being made here 

Hope my gentle readers enjoy this next chapter, which hopefully will be updated much more regularly.

At the Threshold

It had been a couple months since the night of the party in Augusta and Emma and Nox had told their colleagues of their relationship. After a brief period of awkwardness surrounding Svengali-esq allusions to their student-teacher relationship the Fellowship had accepted it. They had also moved in together and were raising a cat named Mr. McTibbles (Mr.T for short in Emma's apartment. Her job at the Centre was going well, but Emma was feeling more dissatisfied daily and she felt something in the air, a growing sensation of unease coupled with anticipation that something new was just around the corner.

Emma and Nox were in her apartment, chilling out on a bleary Sunday morning. In her mahogany bed with its deep blue sheets Nox thought that Emma's skin reminded him of a Grecian statue. To Nox Emma was like the Venus of Knidos whose beauty attracted men from across the Aegean to her small temple and he was a traveler who had stopped off only to be welcomed by the goddess herself. Emma turned in her sleep muttering something about fire and the name Shalimar but quickly turned over and went back in6o a deeper slumber.

The early morning light, diffused by the misty rain dappled across Box's midnight hair and he smiled as it rested across Emma's silken cheek. She groaned and shifted trying to block out the offensive ray but to no avail.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Too early, but time for us to get up and at least get breakfast and check in with the others to see how the extraction went last night." Nox replied laughing as Emma groped wildly for the alarm clock to see the actual time.

"Wha – what extraction, what the heck …" she pushed the alarm clock off the bedside table, groaned and got up replacing it in its proper position and yawned.

"Alex and Shannon got Jamie a new identity and set her up in Albuquerque. You know the water elemental that we met last week …"

"Right, I vaguely remember that. God, I need coffee."

"Coming up my love."

Nox got out of bed himself and went out to the kitchen to brew some coffee; Emma rarely woke up completely without her obligatory cup of coffee in the morning. Emma pulled on a robe and went into the kitchen, grabbing her coffee and a bagel she turned on the television to the local news station. What was on caught here eye and made her gasp in shock. At the scene of a chemical spill near the headquarters of Genomex the traffic cameras had picked up the possible witnesses. The camera zoomed in and Emma plainly saw Shalimar, Brennan and a woman she did not know running from the scene and it looked like Shalimar was badly burned and Brennan cradled his arm like it was broken. The girl behind them was limping and the small, battered group disappeared off the screen soon after.

Her gasp had gotten the attention of Nox, who sat down beside her,

"What's wrong, do you know them."

"I had a vision of this, Shalimar she was burned … Brennan he." Groaning and clutching her head Emma stood up "I think I need to have a shower."

With that she went into the bathroom and shut the door leaving Nox one very confused new mutant. She turned on the water full blast and stepped under it thinking about her vision. Could she have prevented it?

Emma stayed in the shower for a while, carefully y washing her hair, composing herself for the eventual questions that Nox would ask about her prophetic episode. Deciding it was time to face the music Emma left the bathroom and went to get dressed. Pulling on a white button down top and blue jeans she left the room and ran into her companion.

"What was that about?" Nox inquired, placing a hand on her shoulder and leading Emma over to the couch.

"I had a dream last night, it was vivid I could feel the flames on my face but I didn't think anything of it – until that news segment. The group of people they showed were my friends and the dream I had last night was about them being hurt. I just think that maybe I could have helped them, told them what would have happened." Emma started to cry, the stress of keeping up her façade showing.

"Honey, how could you have known that it was actually going to come true?" He rubbed her back in slow circles, trying to calm her down.

"I guess I couldn't have, but I think I need to call them and make sure they're going to be okay."

"Whatever you need to do. If you need to go out I'm going to be over at HQ with the others. Be safe love."

Emma grabbed her car keys and left the apartment, giving Nox a quick kiss on the way out. She climbed into her blue, used corolla and drove to the outskirts of a nearby town, Clarkston.

She pulled into the parking lot of a diner and walked up to the payphone. Placing her money in she dialled the phone number to Sanctuary, she had promised herself that she would only call them if it was an emergency but with the injuries they seemed to sustain that morning Emma figured now was as good a time as any.

Back in Sanctuary the LAN-line telephone rang once, twice, three times before Jesse picked it up. His vigil over his injured team mates in the med lab left his voice strained and weak.

"Hello?

Emma drew in a breath hoping that the crisp air could calm her suddenly chaotic nerves.

"Hi Jesse, it's me … Emma."

Jesse jumped up in a panic, he yelled down the hallway for Adam who raced up from the med lab. 'It's Emma' he whispered, Adam began a trace on the phone line immediately.

"Sorry Em, static … so how are you?" he inquired, his mood buoyed by finally hearing from his teammate who had been missing for almost a year.

"I'm fine, but I called because I saw the news this morning, how are Brennan, Shalimar and that other girl? They looked seriously injured … I just wanted to make sure they were okay." Her voice broke thinking of the possible condition of her former friends.

Emma," Adam cut in "They're going to be okay, the injuries they sustained are being healed as we speak. The other girl you saw is a new member to the team; she's a telekinetic named Kylie."

"Oh, so you replaced me."

"Emma, it's not like that." Jesse replied, frantic to keep her on the line long enough so Adam could trace her location.

She sighed audibly replying, "I know Jess, sorry. It's been a long day. I had a dream last night about it … whatever. I just wanted to make sure you all were okay. Bye."

"Emma wait!" Jesse cried hoping to keep his friend talking to him.

"She's gone Jesse, but I think I got a location, Clarkston in New York State. We can go in the morning and look around for her."

Adam printed off the results and walked back to the lab, making preparations for his journey to the small town that Emma had called from. He still hoped that although she had not asked, Emma would want to return to the fold.

Emma placed the receiver back in its cradle and got back in her car satisfied that her friends were safe and she could return to her normal life. But changes were occurring in the Fellowship that even she could not foresee.

The Fellowship headquarters had just received a transmission from an old colleague who was high up in the governmental chain of command. She had contacted them asking for their help in maintaining an elite force of government agents with superhuman powers.

Emma pulled into the driveway and entered the house, rain running in rivulets down her red tresses due to the torrential downpour that seemed to have started right when she entered the city limits. Stepping into the foyer she pulled off her coat and walked into the living room calling for her friends.

"Is anyone here?"

"In here!" Gillian called from the control room. Emma went into the room and was shocked to see more then just her regular teammates there. In the large room was about five people in buttoned up suits and they were presenting the Fellowship with a document with the word classified emblazoned upon the front cover. Sitting down at the conference table Emma looked at the others and asked them to explain what was going on.

Nicole replied;

"We have been asked to join the government in a special task force called the Strike Force. It is an organisation that deals with terrorists and matters of national security but using individuals with special powers, like us, instead of regular human agents."

A commanding blonde woman stood up and addressed Emma, "I am special agent Granger and I am your liaison with the government. Nice to meet you Ms. Hunting."

She held out her hand and Emma grasped it firmly, reading the woman subtly but felt no hint of malice or ulterior motives just a driving desire to help people in need.

"You too, if we choose to join what sort of restrictions will be placed on us?" Emma inquired thinking back to Mutant X where all of her moves were tracked and she couldn't really move freely in the world outside of Sanctuary.

"The only restriction will be that you move to Connecticut, we have a compound ready for you which also houses other New Mutants who work for our organisation. We also need you to, obviously, respond to the missives we will send your way regarding terroristic behaviour and you will be obligated to take part in the missions we assign to you."

"So we can do whatever we want as long as we go on the missions." Inquired Gillian.

"Yes, you will have the freedom to do as you please." Replied Agent Granger, breaking into a smile suddenly saying "I do hope you will say yes to our offer, it would be lovely to have a group of your calibre on our side."

The Fellowship looked at each other and smiled, they were in agreement. Standing up they all said that they would join and Agent Granger brought out Manila folders containing their contracts and the details of their move. The team read the contract and signed it dutifully on the dotted line. The Agent told them that they would be moving in two weeks time and that their employers would be notified tomorrow regarding their transferral of employment. The group would be paid a generous stipend which they could use at their disposal and save at any bank they wished for use in the future.

Smiling Emma and Nox left the group after discussing their living arrangements with Agent Granger and making her aware that at the new compound they expected to share an apartment together.

Driving back to Emma's place Nox asked her about her impromptu business trip that morning and how it went.

"Fine, my friends are okay. Let's not talk about that, I need to start to pack." Laughing Nox and Emma went into her apartment, but did anything but pack.

Meanwhile Jesse and Adam had flown the Helix to Clarkston but were met not with their missing teammate but cold, rainy weather. They were dejected that once again Emma had managed to slip by them and the two men made their way back to Sanctuary to let their recovering friends know what had transpired – nothing.

Shalimar was resting in the laboratory, her bandages itching but her burns healing under the watchful eye of Adam ad his machines.

"Anything?" She asked, hopeful that they had found Emma and brought her back so she could apologise for her disrespectful behaviour towards the psionic before she left. Shalimar would do anything to apologise and take back what she said – calling Emma weak, pathetic and crazy was just not a proper good bye no matter how Shalimar had been feeling.

"No, by the time we got there Emma was long gone. I think she is probably living in New York, but in a city of 30 million God only knows where she is hiding,"

The group sighed, when would the prodigal sister return?

Two weeks later the Fellowship had their belongings packed into moving vans arranged by the Strike Force government au pairs. The vans lurched through the spring rains that seemed to blanket much of the state and hours later the group finally pulled up on their intended destination a beautiful stone mason mansion set on acres of manicured lawns and forests. It was set away from any town in order to not attract unwanted attention and had the facilities that any mutant regardless of ability would love. Open air and spaces with state of the art gyms, labs and practising areas allowed the mutants on the premises to practice their abilities unobstructed out of the potentially bigoted eyes of regular humans.

The Fellowship was given stately, wood paneled rooms in the mansion decorated to each of their different sensibilities. They were clustered together on one hallway as individual bedrooms in one wing of the compound with a kitchen and living room down a flight of stairs shared by a few floors of rooms. Smiling Emma ran through the hallways and outside to the tennis and basketball courts that surmounted the pool. Breathing in the air unobstructed by city smog and 24 hour noise, she sighed in happiness. Here she would be able to explore her abilities to their full extent while helping others and sharing her life with Nox. The world seemed perfect but she knew that eventually her old life with Mutant X would intrude on this calm solitude but like this new development with the Strike Force even Emma's new powers of precognisance could not fathom how they would meet again, but one could be sure it would be in the most unlikely way.

To be continued …


End file.
